D.C. bridge closed for suspicious package

[Blaborde1488 Profile]

CBS/AP) WASHINGTON — D.C. police say the Duke Ellington Bridge in northwest Washington is closed while a suspicious package is investigated.


Police spokeswoman Tisha Gant says the call came in around 8:10 a.m. Friday for the bridge that carries Calvert Street over Rock Creek.


Gant says the explosive ordinance team is on the scene. She did not have any further information.

Local authorities in New York and Washington, D.C. are on extra alert both for the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and because of the announcement Thursday night that federal authorities are following "credible but unconfirmed" intel about possible attacks on the two cities.

Just days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. counterterrorism officials were chasing a credible but unconfirmed al Qaeda threat to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington.

Law enforcement officials have been particularly wary after information gleaned from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan indicated that al Qaeda had considered attacking the U.S. on this anniversary and other important American dates. A federal law enforcement source also told CBS News that operatives may be acting on bin Laden's wishes.

Officials have also been concerned that terrorists would see the anniversary as an opportunity to retaliate against the U.S. for killing bin Laden in a military raid in May.

Law enforcement officials were pursuing three people who may be traveling to the U.S. or who have recently entered the country, based on the detailed information received by the U.S. intelligence community late Wednesday, officials said. The intelligence suggested that al Qaeda planned to car bomb one or both of the two cities that were hit 10 years ago.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/ ... 3868.shtml

[Kinninigan Profile]

"The intelligence suggested that al Qaeda planned to car bomb one or both of the two cities that were hit 10 years ago."

Ten years of planning and this is all they could come up with as we lose our liberties?